1. Prior Art—Exercise Bars
Humans have long used exercise bars for stretching, strengthening, and toning many parts of their bodies. In general, they comprise a horizontal bar that is movably held at a predetermined height. The user grips the bar with one or both hands and bears against it from various angles, providing resistance to muscular efforts. Alternatively, the bar can be used to restrain the user's feet for use in leg, foot, back, and stomach exercises. Accessories to the bar, such as balls and benches, permit the user to attain additional postures for exercise. The height of the bar is normally adjustable to accommodate users of various sizes and to permit a variety of exercises to be performed.
The following is a list of some prior art that shows such bars.
U.S. Pat. No. Kind Issue or Patentee or or Pub. Nr.CodePub. DateApplicant2,688,289B1Sep. 07, 1954Sterling3,642,278B1Feb. 15, 1972Hinckley5,389,055B1Feb. 14, 1995Gangloff5,765,978B1Jun. 16, 1998Looker et al.6,623,409B1Sep. 23, 2003Abelbeck
Hinckley shows an adjustable floor and ceiling supported chinning bar. A bar is suspended at its ends by a pair of threaded C-clamps that are secured to foraminous vertical supports by wing nuts. The upper and lower ends of the supports are respectively springably wedged between a ceiling and floor. The vertical position of the bar is adjusted by removing the wing nuts, relocating the clamps, and replacing the wing nuts. While this apparatus is useful, adjusting the height of the bar for a series of different exercises or for different users is onerous.
Gangloff teaches a portable exercise bar device comprising a horizontal bar and pair of vertical bar supports that are secured to a flat base. In one embodiment, the supports include a plurality of holes that accept movable pins that project from the ends of the horizontal bar. In another embodiment, pins that extend from the horizontal bar slidably fit into notches in the vertical supports. This device is limited to providing support for performing pull-ups while the user is in a supine position. It must be partially disassembled when it is to be moved.
Looker et al. show a cargo track fitting with a springably liftable plunger that normally engages circular cut-outs in the track when the fitting is secured, but releases from the track when the plunger is lifted. This device is easily repositioned along the track by simply lifting the plunger. Lifting the plunger also permits removal of the device from the track. This ability is not desirable in uses where removal of the device from the track is not wanted.
Abelbeck shows an automatic locking exercise device comprising a horizontal exercise bar that is constrained to move up and down in a pair of vertical tracks. The vertical tracks each include a ratchet. The bar is rotatably coupled to a pair of spring-loaded pawls that slidably move over the ratchets when the bar is moved upward, but normally prevent the bar from moving downward. To move the bar downward, the user rotates the bar, releasing the pawls from contact with the ratchets and allowing the bar to slide downward. While it is useful in preventing weights from falling, for example, the ratchet-and-pawl component of this device limits its use to one-way vertical exercises.
2. Prior Art—Tie-Down Fittings
The ends of the above exercise bars are generally secured to vertical support members by locking devices that move slidably within channels. Such locking devices are also found in tie-down anchoring devices like those used in cargo holds of aircraft, ships, and trucks.
Sterling shows a tie-down assembly comprising a ring and clamp device that slidably moves in a channel in a released condition, and when actuated securely grips the channel. A ring that extends from the clamp is used to secure a rope that holds the cargo in place. This device provides a secure grip, but clamping and release operations would be cumbersome if the device were to be incorporated into an exercise bar that is to be moved frequently.
While the above-described devices are each useful for their intended purposes, they are not suitable for use in an exercise apparatus of the type described below.